The (Lost) 7 Liberal Arts | Fat Fueled Family Podcast Episode 162

On today's show we are sharing a section of a Youtube live stream where Danny and Maura discuss The (lost) 7 Liberal arts.

Most of us never had much exposure to the liberal arts or this framework in our primary education, but I was was introduced to it as an undergraduate with Columbia’s core corriculum.

Liber means both book (knowledge) & free in Latin. Knowledge is freedom.

Education is derived from educare, to lead out from. Education leads us away from the darkness of ignorance & into the light of knowledge. Modern “education” is really just indoctrination. Indoctrere means to speak into something. So instead of leading us away from ignorance, indoctrination speaks into us to shape our perception.

The Trivium is derived from the ancient Latin tres, tria (three) & via, which is a way, path, or method. The trivium is a 3-fold discovery methodology for reaching the truth. It’s a truth discovery methodology with 3 steps: grammar, logic & rhetoric.

Truth discovery starts with the trivium, quadrivium, and the 5 senses. The ancient trivium was also divided into three: knowledge (grammar), understanding (logic) & wisdom (rhetoric). In modern times, we can classify this as input, processing & output.

Knowledge (grammar) is the gathering of information—who, what, where, when, etc.

Understanding (logic) refers to information processing. This is how we get to the “why”. What’s the meaning of this information? This is where we weed out logical inconsistencies from our data set, and it has 3 sub-steps: filtration, correlation & analysis.

Wisdom (rhetoric) is the output phase. This is knowledge & understanding in action. Wisdom is doing the right thing based upon what you’ve come to know & understand. Wisdom is right action. It’s how we answer the last question: what am I going to do with this?

The Quadrivium is the fourfold quantification tool set we use during the information processing phase of the trivium. It’s how we use & apply logic. It’s arithmetic, geometry, music & astronomy. The quadrivium is built into nature & provable in nature. Nothing is subjective in number (quantity), form (expression) & vibration (energy).

Arithmetic (quantity) is basic mathematical processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication & division. It’s pure abstraction through numbers. This is how we get to algebra, trigonometry, matrices, etc.

Geometry (form) is the study of shape, size, proportion, position, etc. Geometry is the arithmetic of space. Physics would be an example.

Music (vibration) is the study of vibratory energy, for example, thermodynamics. It’s the arithmetic of time.

Astronomy is the dynamics of the macro body of the heavens, or the arithmetic of time & space. Astronomy has been called the music of heavenly bodies.

5th grade test from a little red schoolhouse in Salina, Kansas: https://newrepublic.com/article/79470/1895-8th-grade-final-exam-i-couldnt-pass-it-could-you